In my last blog I talked about how a random TL connection exposed my to the idea of intermittent fasting, the leangains blog, and the fact that my friend was doing some consulting.

Intermittent Fasting (I.F.) is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting and non-fasting. There are a few different popular types (you may have heard of ‘The Warrior Diet’), but for our purposes, please think of I.F. as purposefully skipping breakfast. Of course, there is a little more to it that, but for now, please think of it in those terms.

Three weeks have passed since I started intermittent fasting. Considering that this diet, way of eating, and way of working out is completely new to me I am really happy with how well things have gone. Upon contacting Andy the first thing he had me do is take some measurements in order to "figure out my macros". Initially i said "No worries, 1a2a3a4t5t6t7t8v9v0v". I was way off. Apparently that is short for macronutrients, and those are just my protein and carbohydrate targets for each day.

Count macronutrients, not calories, and give yourself targets for training days and non-training days. This makes everything a lot easier and thus sustainable.

The first week I killed myself hitting my macros. I was cooking all my own food, eating 3x the protein I was used to, and shopping every day. What I was doing was not going to last. Slowly but surely though I found myself settling into a routine that allowed me to hit my targets, took a lot less time to prepare, and didn't stop me from eating with my family at night.

Mmm... workout day lunch, half my daily macros.

Getting the amount of protein I need each day is my biggest challenge. I devour chicken breasts like they are going out of style. I'm growing wings. The lady at the supermarket looks at me funny when I buy 4kg of chicken at a time. Whatever. During the day I have an eight hour window in which to eat, and my body then fasts for the next sixteen. I was hungry in the mornings at first, but my body slowly adjusted. It helps that my mornings are normally very busy, leaving me not a lot of time to think about food.

Choose a time, one hour, 3 days a week. Do big compound movements and forget about the rest for now. (Squat, Deadlift, Press, Chin-ups, Benchpress, Dips)

A couple years ago our school came across some extra budget and built a weight training room tucked in behind the bike racks. In the mornings when I arrive at school the place is deserted and the room is all mine. It is good for my fragile ego that there are no witnesses.

Body-recomposition is 70% diet, 30% training. Put your efforts into this in that ratio for results.

Basically this is the most important lesson I have learned thus far. I think I have always overvalued exercise. Going on a 100km bike ride sounds great, but if you follow it up with a terrible dinner and a six pack, it doesn't mean a thing.

The scale tells me I am getting results, but the real results are in how I feel. Like a million-freaking-dollars. When impose your will and enact change on your body, there is no better feeling in the world. If you have any questions feel free to ask, but I am no means an expert. I recommend reading:

Lol, there's always a way to slip in a SC joke. Wow that picture, that's a lot of food (and only half). So you basically can eat between lunch and dinner? Is that the window you have to get all the food in?Besides how you feel, have you noticed any thing else that's changed in the 3 weeks?Please keep doing these, I'm really interested. I swear if I put more effort into my diet I'd probably get faster/better results :/

Because when you left, Brood War was all spotlights and titans. Now, with the death of the big leagues, Brood War has moved to the basements and carparks. Now, Brood War is unlicensed brawls, lost teeth, and bloody fights for fistfulls of money - SirJolt

On September 19 2011 17:02 Hyde wrote:Lol, there's always a way to slip in a SC joke. Wow that picture, that's a lot of food (and only half). So you basically can eat between lunch and dinner? Is that the window you have to get all the food in?

I like to refer to it as a "feating window" because that sounds awesome. I eat between 12pm-8pm each day. That is what fits into my schedule.

Besides how you feel, have you noticed any thing else that's changed in the 3 weeks?

I actually started being more conscious about my health about three months ago, but it is the past three weeks where I have really focused on my diet. It just feels empowering to have a reason why I am eating certain things, rather than just eating randomly. I've had to punch new holes in my belt too.

I contemplated trying leangains for a while now, but the thought of working out fasted just doesn't compute. I am starving enough without any fasting and always try to get food in before / during workout.

I've been doing a similar thing for the last week too. I spent the summer back in my parent's house and got fat on constant food in the house and seconds of delicious dinners. Now I'm back cooking for myself I'm finding I'm eating one meal a day, cooked from scratch in the kitchen and usually having several helpings of it. If I have stuff like cereal in the house then I'll just end up having cereal for dinner instead of real food. Anyway, I'm fasting and not loving it. I'm just hungry all the time. Hopefully my body will get used to it like yours did though.

Weirdly enough when I had food bought for me I used to spend a decent amount of my own money on eating out and snacks too, despite how amazing my mother's cooking is. Now I'm setting myself a budget for food I'm very conscious that every penny I don't spend from that is in the bank. Very counter-intuitive.

On September 19 2011 17:25 zatic wrote:Do you work out fasted? How is that going?

I contemplated trying leangains for a while now, but the thought of working out fasted just doesn't compute. I am starving enough without any fasting and always try to get food in before / during workout.

You should do it. It works! Takes 4-7days to adjust. Have been smashing out fasted workouts now for months. Feeling great.

Anyway, I'm fasting and not loving it. I'm just hungry all the time. Hopefully my body will get used to it like yours did though.

The key is to eat at the same times and not snack. 4-7 days and your hormones adjust to the new eating pattern. If you snack, your body doesn't know what's going on, can't get used to it and you just make yourself hungry.

I was pretty "fat" (114Kg, 1.84cm) and when I had "enough of it" I just did the following:I stopped eating breakfast (well, that was not really a change ) and also stopped eating lunch and basically just ate DINNER nomnomnom. I lost ~15 Kg whiteout caring what I eat (I ate dinner.. Hm dinner... EVERYTHING.. Nomnomnom, i blame my mother for buying tons of good stuff AND cooking awesome several times a week).

Now that I moved out I began immediately to lose more (at -20-25Kg now) and I can better "control" what I have available to eat (if everything is just there it's terribly hard for me to "not eat that damn snickers :p" but if you don't buy a Snickers you can't eat it... So my Dinner nowadays looks mostly like Veggies + Meat (Chicken or Pork mainly) and/or Pasta (with selfmade tomato/vegetable sauce).

The body really adjusts to your eating routine... Right now I can live the whole day with basically nothing except coffee and water, if I feel really hungry I just eat an apple... or several if it's really dire (this depends on the Dinner I had the evening before) but BEWARE if the clock hits 8 and I haven't at least started cooking :D ( as soon as I start cooking I don't feel that hungry anymore, it's seems like alone the routine of preparing food is satisfactory to my stomach ^^).

Well 5-10 Kg more to go until I'm truly satisfied (that would put me at around 80-85 Kg.

Oh, i'm doing this for nearly 2 years now +/- "strict"... Not doing it strict immediatly led to +5 Kg (but stable at these 5 more)

Just the part with "I should really start to working out" hasn't stuck yet, but who knows ^^, maybe soon.

I love it when we have positive examples of people using their willpower to better themselves and that it makes them feel good as well! Great writeup, neat concept. I've never heard of IF but it makes sense to me!

On September 19 2011 17:02 Hyde wrote:Lol, there's always a way to slip in a SC joke. Wow that picture, that's a lot of food (and only half). So you basically can eat between lunch and dinner? Is that the window you have to get all the food in?

I like to refer to it as a "feating window" because that sounds awesome. I eat between 12pm-8pm each day. That is what fits into my schedule.

On September 19 2011 17:25 zatic wrote:Do you work out fasted? How is that going?

I contemplated trying leangains for a while now, but the thought of working out fasted just doesn't compute. I am starving enough without any fasting and always try to get food in before / during workout.